We Are (Re)Opening for Dance!

We have gotten permission from the attorney general’s office, and we are SO excited to get back in the studio next week! We are following all the guidelines and taking every possible precaution to keep your child safe, so please read below for an outline of what to expect as well as information for the adjusted schedule.

ADJUSTED SCHEDULE AND REDUCED CLASS TIME

In an effort to keep our students safe we are going to limit the number of classes we have going on simultaneously, which means your class may be on a different day or at a different time.  Please see the attached schedule and mark your calendar with your class time.  Most classes will be shortened to 45 minutes to allow our staff time to disinfect the space before the next class arrives.  (Acro Dancers:  We are temporarily removing this class from the schedule, and we will credit your account for April & May since we did not offer this class online.)

DROP OFF/PICK UP

To prevent unnecessary traffic inside the studio, we ask that parents drop off dancers at the front door and then come back to pick up when class is over.  If you arrive early, please remain in your car until it is time for your child’s class.  It is extremely important that you be on time for drop off and pick up as we cannot have children congregating in the lobby, so please make note of what time your class begins and ends and do not be late. You will be asked to sign a new waiver on your first day back, so please let us know in advance if someone besides a parent will be dropping off your dancer. Dancers will not be allowed to stay at the studio during breaks between classes, apart from the Monday morning PA rehearsals.

COVID-19 POLICIES

We will be doing temperature checks at the front door as you come in for class and we will require everyone to use hand sanitizer before entering and exiting the classroom.  We have hand sanitizing stations set up in each classroom and throughout the studio.  Please come to the studio dressed and ready for class, and don’t bring anything inside besides your dance shoes and a bottle of water.  Street shoes will be removed upon entry and placed in a designated area in each class room. 

To ensure dancers are able to maintain social distancing, we will be holding all classes in the two larger dance rooms.  For our younger dancers, we will use place markers to remind them of where they should stand, but we ask that you talk to them about the importance of not touching anyone or anything while at the studio.

To further ensure your safety, our instructors will be providing “hands off” corrections.  We will be giving lots of demonstration and verbal cues to ensure students are properly executing the movements. 

The water fountain will be temporarily closed, so be sure to send your dancer with water in a closed container with their name on it.  No other food or drink will be allowed in the studio. 

Our employees will be wearing a mask, and we encourage the students to wear one as well, but it is not required. 

IMPORTANT

Please do not send your dancer to class if anyone in your household is feeling less than 100% and/or has had any close-contact exposure to confirmed cases of COVID-19.  We will have hand sanitizing stations set up throughout the studio, and we encourage you to use them frequently.

We understand that not everyone may feel comfortable coming back to class yet, and we want you to know that is OK!  We will continue to record our classes and post them in the Facebook groups for anyone who is not comfortable coming to the studio.  The last day of Zoom classes will be Thursday, May 21st and the studio will be closed for Memorial Day. 

RECITAL

Thank you to everyone who participated in our survey about recital, your feedback is very helpful to us!  The survey results showed that most of you would like to postpone the recital until the fall, so the plan is to have it at the beginning of August.  As soon as we are able to secure a venue, we will have more information for you. 

As you know, our spring dance semester was set to end on May 30th.  Since we have decided to postpone the recital until the fall, and we technically only have one week left in our spring semester, we are going to extend the spring schedule through June and July so our students have plenty of time to perfect their routines and practice together.  We appreciate everyone who stuck with us through the shut down, and we would like to thank you by giving you a 20% credit on the amount that you paid in April/May.  This credit will be added to your account and can be used for summer tuition.  In addition, you will continue to have FREE access to our online fitness group which we encourage you to use!

For those of you who are set up on auto pay for tuition, please contact us so we can get you set up for June and July.  Your current auto pay contract expires on May 30th and the final draft was May 1st, so we will need to set up a new contract for summer.  If you are not enrolled in auto pay, please mail your tuition to the studio (1507 N. Wood Ave.) or give us a call with a card number (256-760-0056) as our lobby and office will be closed when classes resume to help us prevent crowding.

DANCE PICTURES

These will take place at the studio June 5th-7th.  If you are not comfortable coming into the studio or you are going to be traveling, you are welcome to contact Butler Studio to schedule a private session with them (www.butlerstudio.net).  We are working on the schedule and will send that along with the order form and costume dress code ASAP.  We do ask that you have your order form filled out before you arrive at the studio to prevent crowding, so please be on the lookout for that in your e-mail and reach out to Butler Studio with any questions you may have regarding their photo packages. 

Thank you so much for your continued support while we have been closed.  We are grateful for the technology that allowed us to bring our classes into your homes, but we cannot wait to see all of your smiling faces back inside the studio!